Confessions of a Sports Bettor!When Joel Soper placed his first "sure thing" bet at the Detroit Race Course back in 1987, he never imagined that such an innocent gesture might lead him down the path to gambling addiction. But now, after tossing millions of dollars into the bonfire of unfulfilled dreams, Joel is stepping out of the shadows to bare his soul about the realities of compulsive sports betting.Never Enough Zeroes is an unflinching and sea...

When Joel Soper placed his first “sure thing” bet at the Detroit Race Course back in 1987, he never imagined that such an innocent gesture might lead him down the path to gambling addiction. But now, after tossing millions of dollars into the bonfire of unfulfilled dreams, Joel is stepping out of the shadows to bare his soul about the realities of compulsive sports betting.Never Enough Zeroes is an unflinching and searing portrayal that exposes the all-too-human foibles of...

Responding to the “Asian values” debate over the compatibility of Confucianism and liberal democracy, Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan, by Joel S. Fetzer and J. Christopher Soper, offers a rigorous, systematic investigation of the contributions of Confucian thought to democratization and the protection of women, indigenous peoples, and press freedom in Taiwan. Relying upon a unique combination of empirical analysis of public opinion surveys, legislative debates, pu...

This work is a collection of essays that describe and analyze religion and regime relations in various nations in the contemporary world. The contributors examine patterns of interaction between religious actors and national governments that include separation, support, and opposition. In general, the contributors find that most countries have a majority or plurality religious tradition, which will seek a privileged position in public life. The nature of the relationship between such tradi...

It is difficult to imagine forces in the modern world as potent as nationalism and religion. Both provide people with a source of meaning, each has motivated individuals to carry out extraordinary acts of heroism and cruelty, and both serve as the foundation for communal and personal identity. While the subject has received both scholarly and popular attention, this distinctive book is the first comparative study to examine the origins and development of three distinct models: religious na...